A want to maximise seat time for the common drivers of its 2024-spec 9X8 Le Mans Hypercar, which is making solely its second race outing previous to subsequent month’s Le Mans 24 Hours, was cited by technical director Olivier Jansonnie as a justification for not giving reserve Malthe Jakobsen a WEC race debut.
“We’re on the lookout for stability in our crew, principally, making an attempt to ensure that we maximise the driving time for the drivers going to Le Mans afterwards, that was the one factor for us,” Jansonnie stated when requested by Motorsport.com to elucidate its strategy.
“We have been giving driving time in testing to Malthe, I feel it was all very constructive.
“Now coming to Le Mans, getting ready for the race, it was good for us to have this sort of repeat, even when it is solely with two drivers.”
Jansonnie rejected the view that not utilising Asian Le Mans Collection champion Jakobsen would possibly imply he’s unprepared if referred to as upon for Le Mans, the place he’s scheduled to race for Cool Racing in LMP2.
“Personally, [I think] he is prepared for nearly each race,” he stated.
Photograph by: Peugeot Sport
Jakobsen defined that he accepted the crew’s choice.
“After all, I am a racing driver and I want to be sitting in a race automotive with the steering wheel between my arms,” he stated.
“However I perceive the crew’s significance of maintaining the crew atmosphere and the crew spirit with a brand-new automotive and to arrange themselves as finest as potential for the 24 Hours of Le Mans which is the large goal for everyone on this sport and particularly the crew as properly.
“I nonetheless really feel like I am prepared, in any other case I do not assume they might have given me the chance to be a reserve driver as a result of it signifies that if at some point one of many drivers will not be able to drive, I must step in.”
Jansonnie stated that Spa could be “attention-grabbing for us to experiment this sort of two drivers scenario” as he anticipates there might be extra situations sooner or later when clashes come up “simply because merely there are increasingly races”.
“You are simply growing extra variables you must play with [having] three drivers, so it ought to be a bit simpler,” he stated.
“And within the race, we are going to see, it actually is dependent upon the variety of stints we’ll have within the race.
“If we hold the race to 6 stints, it is most likely straightforward, should you begin doing seven stints then we’ll should scratch our heads and see how we do this with the drivers.”
Following a 4kg weight achieve and 2kW discount in most energy within the newest Stability of Efficiency revealed earlier this week, Jansonnie stated “We do not anticipate to be on the very entrance” at Spa.